How to Reopen a Closed Tab in Google Chrome

To reopen a closed tab in Google Chrome, press Ctrl + Shift + T (Command + Shift + T on a Mac). Press it again to keep reopening tabs in the order you closed them. You can also right-click an empty spot on the tab bar and choose Reopen closed tab, or pick a page from History › Recently closed in Chrome’s menu.

These steps apply to the current version of Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebooks, plus the Chrome apps for Android, iPhone and iPad, as of October 2026. The shortcuts come from Google’s Chrome keyboard shortcuts list.

Which Method Should You Use?

Situation	Best method
You closed a tab a moment ago	Keyboard shortcut or tab bar menu
You need one tab from several you closed	History › Recently closed
You closed a whole window	Shortcut, or the window entry in Recently closed
The tab was closed yesterday or earlier	Full History page
Chrome crashed or you restarted the computer	The Restore prompt, then the startup setting
You’re on a phone or tablet	More › Recent tabs

Reopen a Closed Tab With a Keyboard Shortcut

1. Open Chrome and click in any Chrome window so it’s the active app.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + T on Windows, Linux or a Chromebook, or Command + Shift + T on a Mac. The last tab you closed reopens in its old position, and its Back button still takes you to the pages you visited in that tab.
3. Press the shortcut again to reopen the tab you closed before that one. Each press goes one step further back.

If the last thing you closed was a whole window, the shortcut reopens that window with all its tabs instead of a single tab.

Reopen a Closed Tab From the Tab Bar

If you’d rather use the mouse:

1. Right-click an empty spot on the tab bar, to the right of your last tab. On a Mac without a right-click, hold Control and click.
2. Choose Reopen closed tab. If you last closed a window, the menu says Reopen closed window instead.

The tab comes back exactly as the shortcut would bring it back. Right-click a tab itself and you get a different menu without this option, so aim for the empty space.

Pick a Specific Tab From History

The shortcut and tab bar menu always restore the most recent tab first. To jump straight to one particular tab:

1. Click the three-dot More menu at the top right of Chrome.
2. Point to History. A submenu opens with a Recently closed list.
3. Click the page you want. It opens in a new tab.

Closed windows appear in the same list with the number of tabs they held, such as “3 tabs.” Click that entry to reopen the whole window.

Find a tab you closed days ago

The Recently closed list only shows a handful of recent items. For anything older, use the full History page:

1. Press Ctrl + H (Windows, Linux, Chromebook) or Command + Y (Mac), or click More › History › History.
2. Type a word from the page’s title or web address in the search bar at the top, or browse the By date view.
3. Click the page to open it.

Google says the History page keeps pages you visited in the last 90 days. You can also search history without opening the page: click the address bar, type @history, press Tab or Space, and type your keywords. For more on that page, see how to view or delete your Chrome history.

Reopen Tabs in Chrome on Android

1. Open the Chrome app and tap the three-dot More menu next to the address bar.
2. Tap Recent tabs. A Recently closed section appears at the top, followed by tabs open on your other signed-in devices.
3. Tap the page you want to reopen. On an Android tablet, a restored tab opens in your current window and a restored window opens as a separate window.

If an Undo button appears at the bottom of the screen right after you close a tab, tap it to bring the tab back immediately. For anything older, tap History in the same More menu.

Reopen Tabs in Chrome on iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Chrome app and tap the three-dot More button.
2. Scroll the row of buttons to the right and tap Recent tabs.
3. Under Recently Closed, tap the page you want.

Tabs from your computer or other phone show up in the same list when you’re signed in to Chrome with the same Google Account and have History and Tabs sync turned on in More › Settings › your account name. For Safari as well as Chrome on a tablet, see how to restore tabs on iPad.

Restore All Tabs After Chrome Closes or Crashes

If Chrome closes unexpectedly, it usually shows a Restore button the next time you open it. Click it to bring back the windows and tabs you had open. You can also press Ctrl + Shift + T right away to reopen the last window.

To have Chrome reopen your tabs every time it starts, use Google’s Continue where you left off setting:

1. Click the three-dot More menu, then Settings.
2. Click On startup on the left.
3. Choose Continue where you left off.

Next time you quit and reopen Chrome, the pages from your last session come back. This setting only affects future restarts. It can’t recover tabs that were already lost. Google notes your cookies are kept too, so sites you were signed in to stay signed in. If you don’t want that, turn on Delete data sites have saved on your device when you close all windows under Settings › Privacy and security › Site settings › Additional content settings › On-device site data.

If only one tab is frozen, you can end its process in the Chrome Task Manager and reload it without closing Chrome.

Close Other Tabs Without Losing Them

The easiest way to lose a tab is closing a batch of them at once. Chrome gives you a few safer ways to clear the clutter:

1. Right-click the tab you want to keep.
2. Choose Close other tabs to close every other tab in that window, or Close tabs to the right to close only the tabs after it.

If you closed too many, press Ctrl + Shift + T to bring them back one at a time. To keep a set of tabs before closing them, press Ctrl + Shift + D (Command + Shift + D on a Mac) to bookmark all open tabs in a new folder. Tab groups are another option: Google says closing a group with Close group saves it so you can reopen it later, while Delete group removes it from your devices.

If a Tab Won’t Come Back

• It was an Incognito tab: once you close an Incognito window, Chrome doesn’t keep its tabs or history, so there’s nothing to reopen.
• The shortcut does nothing: click inside a regular Chrome window first so it’s active, then try again. If it still fails, use More › History › Recently closed.
• History was cleared: deleting browsing history can also empty the Recently closed list and the History page.
• You’re in a different profile: each Chrome profile has its own history. Click your profile picture at the top right and switch to the profile you were using.
• Chrome crashed and showed no Restore button: check More › History. Pages you visited are usually still in the full History page even if the session couldn’t be restored.
• It was open on another device: open History and look under tabs from other devices, which appears when you’re signed in with sync turned on.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many closed tabs can I reopen?

Google doesn’t publish a limit. You can keep pressing the shortcut to step back through recently closed tabs and windows, and the full History page covers the last 90 days.

Does reopening a tab bring back what I typed into a form?

Not reliably. Chrome restores the page and its back history, but whether text you typed into a form comes back depends on the website. Save long posts or messages before closing a tab.

Can I reopen a tab I closed on my phone from my computer?

Not from the Recently closed list, which only covers the device you’re using. If the tab is still open on the phone, it shows under tabs from other devices on your computer’s History page when both devices are signed in and syncing.

Does this work in Microsoft Edge?

Yes. Edge is built on the same Chromium engine as Chrome and also reopens the last closed tab with Ctrl + Shift + T. Its menus are laid out differently, so use Edge’s own History menu for older tabs.

Next Step

So Chrome always picks up where you stopped, see how to change your startup page in Google Chrome.